The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Chapter 182: Lowering Your Guard is Prohibited

As Iris’s match came to an end, the arena was still buzzing with excitement from the previous fight, and now it was Sonia’s turn.

“Sonia, you seem really fired up.”

“Yeah. I can feel the overflowing magic power coming from you.”

“It seems the earlier match with Iris has influenced her.”

As Fiera and the others noted, Sonia was indeed brimming with motivation, her purple magic power flickering like purple flames.

Her opponent, a third-year Class A girl, appeared to wield a mace as her weapon.

When the match began, Sonia was the first to use her black hands.

Dozens of black hands emerged from the ground, trying to restrain her opponent, but the girl, enhanced by body strengthening magic, swung her mace down with all her might, shattering the arena floor and obliterating the black hands.

Surprised by this unexpected move, Sonia hesitated for a moment. Seizing the opportunity, the girl closed the distance and swung her mace aimed straight at Sonia’s torso.

Sonia jumped away from the incoming mace, creating a large black hand between herself and the incoming attack. However, the mace’s impact was more powerful than anticipated, and Sonia was struck in the side, sent sprawling by the blow.

Fortunately, since she had jumped while the mace was being swung, the damage wasn’t too severe, but she still took a hit and coughed as she got back to her feet.

“That girl was definitely overconfident.”

“Yeah. She was probably only thinking about Iris and Sharueina. That’s why she ended up getting her first move blocked and couldn’t react.”

Under normal circumstances, Sonia would have easily dodged that earlier attack, but her overconfidence had allowed it to hit her.

“I understand wanting to fight strong opponents, but failing to pay attention to the enemy right in front of you is unacceptable.”

“Yeah. At that rate, she’d die in real combat. Well, Sonia doesn’t have much real experience, so it’s somewhat understandable.”

True enough, if Sonia could fight properly, her only viable opponents in this tournament would be Iris and Sharueina, especially since Iris had demonstrated superior magic control during her fight with Shudo.

So, it was to be expected that she was focused on someone like Iris. But if that made her unable to see her current opponent, that was a problem.

“This has been a good experience for her, but during the long summer break, you and Shuvina need to keep an eye on her. If worst comes to worst, even if she dies, Sephiria can bring her back.”

“Got it.”

“Leave it to me.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Even if something bad were to happen to Sonia, Sephiria had resurrection magic, so she could bring her back.

More than anything, I believe that as long as Sephiria is around, dying becomes one form of experience, and I’ve included Sephiria on Fiera’s side just in case, so there was no need for me to worry any further.

As I was thinking about that, the match concluded, and Sonia, now able to focus properly on her opponent, won by skillfully using her whip and magic.

And the final match of the day featured the tournament’s favored winner, Sharueina. Just like last time, the audience erupted with excitement as she stepped onto the stage.

Her opponent was a large second-year boy who seemed to wield a lance and shield.

When the match began, both were cautious at first, but it was Sharueina who launched the first attack, using body strengthening magic to close the distance in an instant and channeling magic into her sword for a quick slash.

However, her opponent solidly blocked it with his shield and countered with a thrust of his lance. Sharueina elegantly dodged that, though.

Sharueina continued to attack with her magically-enhanced sword several times, but each was thwarted by the boy’s shield, maintaining a stalemate.

“It’s over now.”

“Huh?”

As I muttered, Shuvina voiced her confusion, and in that instant, the opponent’s shield shattered, leaving him defenseless.

Sharueina didn’t miss that opening. She closed in faster than before and landed a swift blow with her sword, catching her opponent off guard.

The audience seemed initially bewildered by what had just happened, but they quickly recognized something impressive had taken place and erupted into cheers.

“W-what just happened? How did the shield break?”

It appeared Shuvina was still trying to grasp the situation, looking a bit perplexed as she asked.

“Well, simply put, the shield froze, causing its durability to drop and then shatter.”

“Durability drops? I don’t quite understand. Sure, a shield’s durability decreases with continued use, but can it break that easily?”

“Well, that’s true. Normally, it wouldn’t break that quickly with just a straightforward attack. But Sharueina can use ice magic. If she infused her sword with ice magic and attacked, that changes things. Everything has a thermal limit it can withstand. When that limit is exceeded, iron melts and becomes easier to work with, right?”

“That makes sense. I’ve heard smiths heat metal to forge weapons.”

“Exactly. So, what if you freeze something beyond its endurance limit? The answer is simple: it shatters.”

“It shatters?”

“Fiera, hand me an apple.”

“Okay!”

Getting an apple from Fiera, who was munching on the fruit she’d brought, I used ice magic to freeze it.

But instead of encasing it in ice, I focused on freezing only the moisture and juice inside the apple.

“How about this…?”

Once I confirmed all the moisture in the apple was frozen, I dropped it to the ground.

With a sound like breaking glass, the apple met the floor and shattered beautifully.

“The apple shattered.”

“Wow, it’s just like glass breaking!”

“In this way, materials can easily break when frozen beyond a certain point, and the same applies to iron. Most likely, that shield used by the second-year student was heavily made of iron, and noticing that, Sharueina specifically targeted it with her ice magic. Ultimately, the shield, having been frozen beyond its limit, became fragile and couldn’t withstand her attack, resulting in its shattering.”

“I see.”

Explaining it was simple, but executing such a tactic in a real battle requires considerable skill. It’s impressive how she seamlessly incorporated that into her strategy and achieved victory.

Once the matches of the third day concluded, I regrouped with Iris and the others participating in the tournament, and we returned to the dormitory, finishing our day.

On the fourth day of the tournament, Iris’s match began again. It seemed she had grasped something from her fight with Shudo yesterday, and she displayed stable combat to secure victory. Sonia, reflecting on her earlier mistake, went all out from the start and also won without a hitch.

Finally, it was Sharueina’s turn. Having participated last year as well, she too secured a straightforward victory, setting the stage for the final four to be decided.

Advancing to the semifinals were one third-year student, second-year Sharueina, and first-year Iris and Sonia—four participants total.

Having two first-years make it to the semifinals was quite the unusual event, and the audience was buzzing with excitement.

And so, the martial arts tournament was about to welcome the fifth day when the champion would finally be crowned.